NR didn't force anybody off the track since both LH and FA were BEHIND him when he moved towards the edge of the track. It was LH's choice to pursue his original plan and venture out on an agricultural excursion - he didn't have to, he could have done what FA did in the same situation, i.e., back off and stay on track. I agree with the stewards' decision. This is racing at the pinnacle of motorsports and not some nanny fou-fou motoring!
Under the current rules, a driver can make one defensive move and has to allow a car's width, something Rosberg did not do... lack of consistentcy on the part of the stewards, I have seen lesser infractions punished, either just let the drivers race or punish everyone equally, no shades of grey, did a driver break the rule as written, yes? hand down the appropriate punishment!
Charlie Whiting:
“A driver can make one move only to defend a position – but when that driver then moves back onto
the racing line to take a corner it can be construed as a second move, which is not allowed. It’s a matter of deciding to what degree resuming
the original line is acceptable.
“
We don’t want to get into silly arguments about centimetres so
we’ve decided
the defending driver must leave at least one car width on
the racing line otherwise
he will be judged to have made a second move and penalised accordingly.
We need to have drivers giving each other space on
the track – otherwise
we risk dangerous collisions.”
So,
the NR situations don't apply here - it was his first move that spelled trouble for LH (and FA) and LH should have backed down and not force
the issue (
he was lucky there wasn't a wall or something in his way). Afterwards NR moved back to
the racing line coming out of
the corner and there was plenty room on either side of his car.